Dare you Dance with Draco?
by sonea91
Summary: Short three-shot written for a challenge by UndercoverRanga. What happens when Hermione finds herself agreeing to going to the Platinum Ball with none other than Draco Malfoy?
1. A shocking invitation

**This three-shot was written for a challenge by UndercoverRanga and takes place during fifth year. Non-compliant with Order of the Phoenix and subsequent books. ****Enjoy!**

* * *

Hermione stumbled into the Gryffindor Common room, completely shocked by what had just happened. Please, would someone just wake her up and tell her that she was just having an incredibly weird, albeit disturbing nightmare. But no such thing happened, pinching herself didn't help either, she was indeed awake.

"Hermione!" She was vaguely aware that someone had called her, probably more than once, as she noted the slightly impatient edge to his tone.

"Hermione!" This time, Ron had shouted even louder, causing some first years to look up confused. However, it fulfilled its purpose, as Hermione finally seemed to snap out of her trance and made her way over to her two best friends.

Once she had nestled herself in her favourite armchair and said her hellos to the two guys, Ron once again addressed her: "Hermione…" There was a slightly nervous undertone to his voice and Harry seemed to be awkwardly absorbed in his book.

Suddenly a sense of déjà-vu overcame Hermione. Oh no, this couldn't be happening. It was back to fourth Year all over again. At least, Ron seemed to have learnt from his mistake during the previous year. She knew what he wanted to ask her, and she also knew that – once again – she had to disappoint him. And what for?

She couldn't stand looking at Ron, this time he had done nothing wrong, he asked her just a few hours after the announcement, and yet she had to say no to him all the same.

"I can't", she interrupted him, before he could even pluck up the courage to ask her.

"Why not?", Ron asked quietly, not even questioning her as to how she knew what he had been about to ask. Guilt was washing over her face, this time he had done nothing to deserve her rejection.

"I already have a date", she answered as quietly as he had asked. She did not add whom she was going to the ball with, she couldn't do that to him, not just yet.

He fell silent, and so did she, neither knowing what to say and an uncomfortable silence was emerging. She could see that Harry was looking uncomfortable as well, clearly he had not been reading at all, but rather listened in on their conversation.

"I have to go – library", Hermione blurted out, grasping her bag and half-sprinting out of the common room. Neither of the two boys questioned that, even though she had just come back from the library minutes before.

Oh, bullox. What had she done? Hermione had seated herself in her favourite corner in the library, yet for once she was not thinking about books at all. Instead she was reflecting on what had just happened during the last thirty minutes, it still seemed to be so surreal, ridiculous really.

Earlier, at breakfast that morning, Professor Dumbledore had announced that there was to be held a ball at Christmas, similar to the Yule Ball last year, the main difference being that there would only be Hogwarts' students this year, and that all years would be allowed to go - with different curfews though. They called it the Platinum Ball, and if she had interpreted Dumbledore's not-so-subtle clues correctly, it was to be even more pompous than the Yule Ball.

Well, so far so good. She had actually been happy to hear the news. The ball last year had been so much fun, other than the rather abrupt ending that is, and she was looking forward to it.

Being finished with breakfast before the boys, she had left them at the table, wandering off to the library instead. As they had a free period first thing in the morning, she wanted to go over her Potions homework which they were to hand in that afternoon.

Everything had been fine so far, something extraordinary had yet to happen. And it had.

* * *

_Just as she left the library, she bumped into none other than her least favourite person at the school, Draco Malfoy._

"_Watch it, mudblood", he had shouted at her, but then a guilty and somewhat angry reflection had crossed his face, but had disappeared too quickly for her to really catch it._

_She was just about to angrily storm off, when he stopped her. She suddenly noticed that he was on his own for once._

_"Where are your sidekicks, Malfoy? Don't tell me Goyle and Crabbe have actually grown some brains of their own and noticed that you're not the almighty god they believe you to be?", taunted Hermione against her better judgement. Damn her outspoken nature. One day it would get her into serious trouble, she was sure of that. _

_Draco opened his mouth as if to retort, but closed it without saying anything. An emotion like anger once again crossed his face, but he seemed to be doing his best to control himself._

"_Good to see you, actually, Granger", Draco said instead. "You're just the one I was looking for. I wondered whether you would do me the favour of going to the ball with me." He bowed mockingly._

_Hermione wasn't even entirely sure whether he was being serious or trying to ridicule her, so she answered the only way she knew how to: "Only in your dreams, Malfoy", she said sneeringly and once again turned to leave._

"_Rather my nightmares", she heard Draco mumble, even though she had the faint impression that he had not meant for her to hear that. _

_He once again stopped her as she wanted to head off. "What is it now, Malfoy?", she asked, annoyed._

"_Oh, is Miss Perfect afraid of going to the ball with someone as good-looking as me?", Draco taunted her._

"_Rather afraid of being bored to death by your company", she retorted._

"_Argh, I think you mixed something up there, Granger. You mean, that I would be the one bored to death, don't you." Draco smirked at her. _

"_Yeah, intelligent conversation bores you so quickly, doesn't it", said Hermione. _

"_Why don't you try me", replied Draco. _

"_I'd rather not, thank you", Hermione said icily._

"_Ah, see, after all, it all comes down to the same thing. You are afraid of going to the ball with me!"_

_Hermione had to suppress the urge to hit Draco, hit him hard, somewhere it would hurt a lot. But she believed herself to be too much of a lady to fall back on means like that. At least not just yet._

"_Fine", she snapped._

"_Pardon me", Draco asked. Oh, he knew exactly what she was talking about._

"_Fine, I'll go to the ball with you. Meet me in front of the Great Hall at five to eight." _

_With that, Hermione finally stormed off, however, not fast enough to fail to notice the satisfied smirk on Draco's face._

"_See you then, Granger", he called after her._

* * *

Hermione still couldn't believe that she had just given in like that, that she had actually said yes. Never mind that that was probably the longest conversation she had had with the Slytherin, far longer than she had ever wished to talk to him.

This whole situation was just ridiculous. And it was giving her one hell of a headache.


	2. His ulterior motive

**Since I forgot the usual disclaimer in the first chapter, here it is:  
I do NOT own Harry Potter, nor do I possess any rights or characters and I will most definitely never do so.**

**This chapter is written from Draco's POV, I hope you like it. As usual, reading is silver, reviewing is golden=)**

* * *

Draco was sitting in the Slytherin Common room, brooding. His father would be pleased. Everything had gone smoothly so far, he had asked her and she had agreed to come.

Yet he had been more anxious than he wanted to admit to himself when he had asked her. He had feared her rejection, and, as much as he wanted to convince himself that it had been the fear of his father in the back of his mind he knew that that was not the entire truth.

He heard a familiar, unpleasant giggle by his side. Great, Pansy. She gave him one of her sly smiles before nestling herself into the chair opposite of him. He knew so many things he would have preferred doing to talking to her right now, but somehow he doubted that she would give him much choice in the matter.

"So", Pansy began in what she believed to be a seductive voice, but which sounded plainly pathetic to him. "Have you thought about the ball yet?"

Oh blimey, of course she would want to go with him. He hadn't even considered that yet. Draco groaned.

"Are you alright?", Pansy required eagerly.

"I'm fine", he said, trying to smile at her, but refusing to say anything else.

Pansy looked slightly annoyed. Her indirect approach did not get her anywhere, but she was not one to give in easily. If he didn't ask her, she would just have to ask him instead.

"I suppose you're planning on bringing me to the ball with you?", she said.

"Actually…" Draco sighed, this wasn't going to be too easy. "I wasn't. I've already asked someone else."

"Oh!" For once, Pansy was rendered speechless. 'Must be a first', Draco thought drily.

"Listen, I'm so sorry." Draco tried his best to put on a falsely sweet voice, even though he sounded so nonchalant to his own ears. It seemed to be enough for Pansy though, as she bought every word he said.

"You know", he forced himself to take her hand, "I'm so, so sorry. I really am. I would so much rather go with you!"

He did not even try to explain why he wasn't going with her, nor did he offer any explanation as to which girl he was taking. She didn't need to know, not yet. His father had made it very clear to him that he was not to tell anyone of his secret mission, no one, not even Crabbe or Goyle.

And yet he also forced her to stay friends with that pathetic girl. Yes, the Parkinsons were an important family, but he was tired of having to keep up the pretense, he didn't like Pansy, and he most definitely never would.

He excused himself from Pansy, mumbling something about having a headache and went up to his dorm.

Noticing that no one else was in there, he fell down on his bed, relieved. This was all getting too much! When his father had told him of his mission, he had been excited, proud even, he hadn't expected for it to turn out to be so damn hard.

He remembered the conversation with his dad very clearly:

"_There is something you have to do for me, son. You cannot fail on this one, do you hear me?"_

"_Yes, father." Draco was nervous, yet proud. Finally, his father seemed to deem him worthy enough to do something for him. He had so long been waiting for this very moment. For once in his life, he wanted to make his father proud._

"_All of the Dark Lord's attempts to get at Harry Potter so far have been fruitless. So I have come up with a different idea. And the Dark Lord very much appreciated it, he did. But it will all be a waste, if you don't succeed, Draco. It would be even more than that, it would be my downfall."_

"_What is it that you need me to do?"_

"_You need to befriend the little mudblood, Granger. Potter is close to her, like a brother I have heard. You need to make her fall in love with you, bewitch her, make her do anything for you! Once she is but a mere puppet in our hands, it won't be long 'til we'll ultimately get to Potter as well."_

_Draco's face, that had gleamed with anticipation earlier on, now fell demonstrably._

"_The, the mudblood?", he stuttered._

"_I thought I had made myself clear", his father said annoyed._

"_Yes", Draco said, somewhat regaining his composure. "But, Granger is never going to trust me. She hates my guts!"_

"_Then change that", his father replied coldly._

"_But, how far do you want me to go with her. I mean, do you want me to k..." Draco couldn't bring himself to finish that horrible thought._

"_You will do whatever needs to be done", his father said, and there was an air of finality to his voice, when he turned and walked out._

_For a long time, Draco just stood there, staring at his father's retreating back, a feeling of horror and disgust washing over him. He could not believe what he had to do. This just couldn't be happening._

Lying on his bed, Draco cursed his luck. Why oh why did it always have to be him? Why was he not allowed to live a normal life?

He sometimes envied Blaise. Even though their family was Slytherin through-and-through, they had not joined the Dark Lord's side. Blaise was never forced to do anything he didn't want to.

Envy was not an emotion that Draco was used to, nor one that suited him. He had used to look down on those 'inferior' to him.

Since his birth, Draco had had everything he could have ever asked for, materially speaking that is. He had been taught to look down on others, and that he did. But lately, he had come to envy those whom he looked down upon, he envied them for their carefree lives, void of obligations.

Yes, he truly believed in what he had been taught. In his eyes, muggle-borns were not worth the breath it took to pronounce their name. And yet he couldn't help but envy them sometimes.

And now he had to befriend one of them. And Granger of all people. He did not know how she did it, but somehow she always managed to annoy him to no end. She surpassed him in each subject, even though mudbloods should not be able to excel in any subjects, let alone in each one of them.

And now he had to befriend her without letting his contempt for her get the better of him. Pretending that he sincerely liked her. That he somehow had overcome all those prejudices that he had thrown into her face on every possible occasion for the past five years. He didn't know how he would ever be able to do that. He knew that Granger was not one to buy stupid acts, no, she was definitely smarter than Pansy. In order to make her believe, he would have to become a much better actor.

And even when he succeeded (there was no 'if', he knew his dad would have his head if he didn't), things would only get from worse there on. Then he would actually have to talk to Granger on a daily basis, be nice to her. Great, just freaking great.

Yes, life was not easy these days, and very often Draco wished that he would find an easy way out. Yet he was not one to despair, not yet anyhow. If there was a way, he would find it.

But befriending Granger, making her drool. That was just so not going to happen, Granger was not that kind of girl. This whole idea was just one thing - utterly pathetic.


	3. The Platinum Ball

So there it is, the main part of this three-shot. Hope you've enjoyed it. Once again, please leave a review=)

* * *

There was a mere hour left until the ball and the usually calm and collected Hermione was a bundle of nerves. It had been four weeks since Draco had asked her, and they hadn't exchanged a single word since, not even their usual taunting. Instead she had caught him smiling at her several times, and this, more than anything else, freaked her out to no end. Sometimes she would catch his eye and he would just smirk at her, before turning away. This completely confused Hermione, what the heck was he playing at.

She was rather grateful that both Harry and Ron seemed to be oblivious to these little exchanges between Draco and her, as she had yet to tell them who exactly she was going to the ball with. Then again, neither of them had asked her so far, and she didn't really know whether she should be glad about it or offended by their seemingly nonchalantness. Either way, she knew that once they found out, the news wouldn't be going down too well. The main problem was that she didn't know how to explain to them how of all people she was going to the ball with Draco, she still hadn't figured out what had prompted her to say yes.

Hermione sighed as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Ginny had offered to get ready together, but she had politely declined. She knew the younger witch well enough to be aware of the fact that she tended to go overboard when excited.

Hermione once again looked at her reflection. She was wearing a long, green dress that her mother had sent her for her birthday. Once she had seen it, she had almost immediately fallen in love with it, the soft fabric was caressing her curves in all the right places, yet it wasn't too low cut. She loved the way it twirled around her when she was turning. She was also wearing long silver earrings, courtesy of her father as an early Christmas present. Her high heels weren't too extravagant, just a plain, silver pair, in fact she had worn them before, but they were comfortable and she deemed that as most important. And they made her at least an inch taller, something she didn't mind either.

Hermione had never been one to wear much makeup, and she hadn't put on too much today either. In fact, Lavender had volunteered to help her and done pretty much all of it. It had been surprisingly genuine for her roommate, whom she had never regarded as anything but a shallow, superficial girl but apparently there was more to her than what met the eye.

Hermione had had a hard time deciding what to do about her hair, people constantly mocked her for her wild curls, but she had grown rather fond of them, it was part of who she was after all. She had finally settled for putting them up in a neat bun, with only a few stray strands of hair loosely falling down to her shoulders.

Hermione took one look at her clock, and realized that she had wasted a good amount of time brooding. It was time to leave, if she didn't want to be late.

Walking down the stairs, Hermione felt very insecure and self-conscious. She saw Harry and Ron standing in front of the fireplace, obviously still waiting for their respective dates. Harry had eventually plucked up the courage to ask Ginny and Ron was going with one of his sister's friends. He had been a bit embarrassed that his sister had to arrange a date for him, but that hadn't lasted too long, as he had assessed that it was a rather pretty girl he was going with now.

Harry acknowledged Hermione, giving her a small smile. "Looking good", he offered.

"You're not too bad looking yourself", Hermione replied, smiling at him. She turned to look at Ron, but he seemed to have once again chosen to ignore her. She sighed inaudibly, it had been the same routine for the last four weeks. One day he would completely ignore her, the next he would pretend like nothing happened, and the third he would just randomly throw snide comments at her. Personally, she preferred the last one, at least he was being honest then. He had surprised her though by not once asking who she was going with, it seemed that he really didn't want to know. Harry for his part probably thought he was doing her a favour by never even mentioning the ball. Well, as it was, they were both in for a rather big surprise, and she was anxious to see their reaction.

Ron was obviously back to ignoring her, so after a short 'see you at the ball' to Harry, Hermione left the Common Room, walking down to the Great Hall. She allowed herself to smile briefly, when a thought crossed her mind. For the second year in a row, she, plain Hermione Granger would be surprising them all with who exactly her date was.

* * *

Draco was at the arranged meeting point at quarter to eight, anxiously eyeing the stairs, waiting for her appearance. He half-suspected her of not coming with him after all.

After snapping at Goyle once when he had dared to ask him who he was going with, his friends had luckily left him alone. They were waiting in front of the Great Hall with him now though, even though Draco wished desperately for them to go away. He was nervous, he knew that tonight would be a deciding factor in how his 'relationship' with Hermione would develop.

And then she walked down the stairs, and even though he didn't want to admit it to himself, he was rather impressed. He had never wasted any time watching her, but as he did now, he noticed that she had a rather nice figure after all.

Then he realized something and had to chuckle. He somehow had the feeling that she wasn't aware that she was wearing the Slytherin colours tonight.

* * *

Hermione had reached the bottom of the stairs and Draco went over to meet her. When he reached her, linking arms with her without as much as a 'hello', he could hear several audible gasps behind them. Let the show begin, the bomb had definetely dropped now.

Hermione was looking at Draco as he approached her. She was far more nervous than she ought to be, her heart was pounding heavily. She realized that he was rather good-looking, something she hadn't paid too much attention to before.

When he reached her, he held out his arm for her, and she quickly linked his arm with hers. There were no words spoken, instead Draco just nodded at her in a manner of greeting, and she did so in return. She heard several disbelieving gasps and noticed people staring at them.

* * *

Draco felt the girl next to him tensing. Great, not exactly the best way to start the evening. It was not that he wasn't aware of the stares himself, he just was good at ignoring that kind of stuff.

"Seems like we caused quite a stir tonight", Draco whispered, leaning down to Hermione. He noticed her stiffening even more at first, probably due to his sudden closeness, but then slightly relaxing and she was actually smiling back at him.

"Ready when you are", she said, and he took that as his clue to lead her towards the Great Hall. The grip she had on his arm was firm, but other than that she seemed completely calm. Surely, being Harry Potter's best friend she was used to quite a bit of attention.

* * *

Hermione saw her before he did, Pansy, making her way towards them, an expression of anger and hurt pride written all over his face. Surely that had to mean that he hadn't told her. But why would Draco Malfoy be taking her without even consulting his friends first? This was getting more and more confusing by the minute. She really didn't understand the boy by her side one bit, and, being her curious self, Hermione was determined to do anything in her might to find out just what exactly Draco was playing at.

Meanwhile Pansy had made her way over to them, successfully stopping Draco and Hermione by stepping in front of them. This should be interesting.

* * *

Draco saw Pansy advancing on them out of the corner of his eye. Great, he really didn't feel like talking to her right now, but when did he ever? Unfortunately, Pansy seemed to have other plans, stepping just in front of him.

"Draco", she shouted at him, and he didn't need to turn around to know that everyone present in the foyer was watching them.

Pansy was positively glowing with fury and was trying her best to look menacing. At least in Draco's eyes, however, she miserably failed to do so. He just raised an eyebrow at her and was waiting for the assault that was sure to follow.

"How could you?", she spat at him. "When you told me you already had a date, I thought it would be someone actually worth it and not a stupid mudblood like her."

Of all derogatory adjectives Pansy could have chosen to attribute to Hermione, she had to pick 'stupid', that being the only thing that she was undeniably not. He actually wanted to outright laugh in Pansy's face, but his manners prevented him from doing so.

"Are you quite finished?", he asked her in a bored voice. Her mouth just dropped open, and she seemed to be unable to come up with any response.

"Good", he added. "Then would you please step out of the way!" With that Draco pushed Pansy out of the way and walked through the doors into the Great Hall, Hermione still linked to his arm.

After all, something good might be coming out of the whole thing. The way it seemed to be going, Pansy wouldn't be talking to him for quite an amount of time and there was absolutely no way that his father could blame that on him. Maybe, taking Hermione to the ball wasn't such a big price to pay if it meant to get rid of Pansy at the same time. Well, according to his father's plan it wouldn't just end with the one ball, but he really didn't want to think about that right now.

* * *

Hermione tried to suppress a smile, witnessing the exchange between Draco and Pansy. She had never liked the other girl, and she just thought it served her right to be put down for once. It was weird, so far she was actually having fun with Draco.

When they entered the Great Hall, she was at first overcome by the beauty of the decorated now ballroom. The usual tables had disappeared, giving way to a huge dancing ground in the middle of the hall. All in all, it looked quite similar to the Yule Ball the year before, only that there seemed to be this extra spark of golden and silver wherever she was looking.

Too caught up in her own thoughts, Hermione didn't even realize that the chatter in the Great Hall had first died down completely when the strange couple had entered the room. Now the silence had once again been replaced by incessant chatter, as everyone had to discuss what they had just witnessed.

* * *

Draco was watching the witch beside him and had to smile when he realized that she was unaware of the uproar they had just caused. She seemed to be lost in thought, completely in awe of her surroundings. Draco himself didn't deem them to be too special, sure they were different than the usual rather dull decorations, but he had seen much more pompous stuff in his own house. He wondered how she would react if she was invited to one of the Malfoy balls.

Draco was slightly taken aback by where his thoughts were leading him. Surely, Hermione would never willingly set a foot in the Malfoy Mansion. Well, if everything worked according to plan she actually would, but there wouldn't be a ball awaiting her for certain.

Draco focused on the girl at his side once more. Hermione, however, still seemed to be out of it.

"Are you okay?", he asked her, amused.

"It's beautiful", she just whispered back, not really answering his question but close enough.

"Now, I should actually be insulted you know. You're at this ball with me, yet you don't pay me any attention but seem to be more interested in the decorations."

Hermione actually had the courtesy to blush, rather deeply as well. Draco smirked, it was quite funny to tease her after all.

"So, Granger, where do you want to sit?", asked Draco.

"Hermione", she said.

"What?"

"It's not Granger, but Hermione. After all, as you so nicely pointed out earlier on, we're actually going to this ball together, so it would be rather odd to insist on calling one another by our family names."

"Right", Draco replied surprised. "So, Gr..., Hermione" it was strange to hear himself pronouncing her first name, "where do you want to sit?"

"I don't really care, Draco", she said, emphasizing on the last word. "Everywhere is fine, really."

"Well, would you do me the courtesy of following me then?", he asked, leading her to a table in the corner.

* * *

Hermione obliged, chuckling at his antics. She was suddenly aware of all the faces watching them, and right now they all seemed to be stunned by seeing Draco and her laughing together. Not that she blamed them, had the roles been reversed she would probably be one of the ones staring. After all, it would be quite surprising to see the two archenemies going to a ball together, actually having fun. They reached the table and sat down.

It was that very moment, that Harry and Ginny followed by Ron and his date (was it Kirsten?) chose to enter the Great Hall. When Harry spotted her, he abruptly stopped, causing Ron to run right into him. Following the former's stare, Hermione was met with the glances of her two best friends. Ron's face soon turned angry, sending her a furious glare, but Harry's expression was unreadable. He was shocked, so much was for certain, but other than that she really couldn't read his facial expression.

She was relieved when the teachers entered just moments later, causing Harry and Ron to go searching for an unoccupied table and the one they eventually wandered to was out of her sight. For now, Hermione was actually relieved, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to avoid some sort of confrontation later on.

As the teachers passed their table heading up to their table, which was placed at the very front, Hermione realized that several of them were throwing her and Draco confused glances. Mrs. McGonagall looked worried, while Snape's expression was unreadable to her. All of the other professors seemed to be rather curious as well, the only one who seemed remotely unsurprised was Dumbledore, who had the usual twinkle in his eye. Then again, knowing Dumbledore she wouldn't be surprised if he'd actually known of them going together, even though they hadn't told anyone.

* * *

Draco had watched the little exchange between Hermione and her friends silently. He had figured that she hadn't told them, for whatever reason, as neither of them had confronted him yet and he was sure they would once they found out. And his assessment had proved to be correct, if looks could kill he would now most definitely be six feet under. That freckly red-headed friend of hers had looked outright furious and had shot him a deathly glare, which had only caused Draco to smirk and raise an eyebrow in response. This had made the redhead even more furious, if possible. To Draco it seemed that he might be having a rather huge crush on his female best friend.

When the professors passed them, Draco hardly paid them any attention. He saw however, how Snape raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, for now, however, Draco chose to ignore him.

All across the hall, there were at least six students sitting around their table, at all tables that is but his and Hermione's. No one had yet dared to even come near to them, and he was quite positive that it would stay this way.

His attention was once again diverted when Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly, the sound most definitely being magically enhanced. After a little speech, Dumbledore ended with two of his most favourite words "tuck in!"

Eating saved Draco from the embarrassment of having to talk to Hermione just yet. To be honest, he had no idea what he could talk about with her. Instead he chose to watch her while she ate, noting the gracefulness with which she ate, which would have made any pureblood witch proud.

* * *

Hermione was relieved that eating spared her from having to actually address Draco. Instead she focused on eating with as much grace as possible, she knew that her best friends' eating habits were slightly rubbing off on her, even though she didn't want to.

Looking up, she noticed that Draco was watching her and she blushed slightly. She wasn't used to much male attention. Not to say that Victor hadn't paid her enough attention, he had, he just hadn't been watching her as openly as Draco was.

Once they were finished eating, an awkward silence emerged, neither of them knowing what to say.

"Care to dance?", Draco finally interrupted the silence.

Hermione nodded at him, getting up. Draco led her over to the open space in the middle of the hall where other couples were already dancing. There were more than just a few whispers when people started noticing the approaching couple, but both Hermione and Draco did their best to ignore it.

Hermione was quite nervous when they started to dance. She knew that she was quite a good dancer, and so was Draco as far as she had observed during the Yule Ball, but it unnerved her to be this close to him. However, her assessment of Draco being a rather good dancer was proven wrong when he had stepped on her toes trice within the first minute.

"Would you watch your feet", she shot at Draco angrily, even though she had controlled herself enough to keep it at a level that no one but her and Draco could hear what she was saying.

* * *

Draco was uncharacteristically anxious when he led Hermione to the dancing ground. Being this close to her made him feel uncomfortable. He still couldn't believe that she had actually agreed to going with him, and that she was dancing with him right now. So far his father's plan seemed to work flawlessly, even though Draco was convinced that Hermione had her own reasons for going with him. He was also surprised that contrary to what he had expected, the evening had passed pleasantly enough so far. He had not even had the urge to call her 'mudblood' or insult her yet, for which he was grateful, seeing that this might have just slightly endangered the future course of his father's plan.

Draco was so absorbed in his thoughts, that he hardly paid any mind to how he was dancing. He was, however, aware that Hermione would not let him take the lead, but seemed to try to be leading him. So when she snapped at him, he snapped right back:  
"Maybe, if you weren't constantly trying to take the lead, I could actually focus on dancing properly."

Hermione opened her mouth to retort, but closed it without saying anything. She knew he was right and didn't know how to respond to that. Instead she tried to actually let him take the lead, which was quite hard for her, considering that she didn't like the feeling of not being in control.

Draco for his part was more focusing on what he was actually doing now, and after a while, they fell into a comfortable rhythm between them. Neither of them were the greatest dancers, but they were doing alright, and slowly but surely they started to enjoy themselves, lost in the music and their movements.

* * *

About half an hour later, Hermione was exhausted. There had been slow songs at first, but quite fast ones later, and Draco had done his best at picking up the pace. Right now, she was in desperate need of something to drink, so when the next song ended, she pulled Draco off the dance floor.

"I need something to drink", she told him once they were out of the main crowd.

"Me too", he said. Only then did she notice the sweat that was evident on his forehead, and she was quite certain she looked much the same.

"Wait here, I'll get us something", Draco said, before disappearing into the crowd.

Hermione sunk down onto a nearby chair, relieved that Draco had offered to get the drinks for them. She had never expected him to do anything of the kind, and was still rather confused about the whole situation.

When someone stumbled against her, apologizing at once, she turned around, only to find herself faced with her two best friends, both carrying two large glasses of butterbeer.

"Hermione", Harry said when he noticed just whom he had stumbled into.

"Hey", she said, trying her best to smile at them.

"You", Ron spat out. He obviously didn't know how to put his rage into words, as he turned to look at Harry as if urging him to go on.

Harry, however, as curious as he was to find out what had convinced Hermione to go with Malfoy wasn't one to make a scene in front of the whole school, so Ron was left on his own.

"You traitor", he finally yelled at her. "How could you? Bloody Malfoy of all people. I can't believe it. You're fraternizing with the enemy!"

"I thought your vocabulary should have grown since last year", she replied icily, desperately trying not to show that his words had actually hurt her. "Obviously I was wrong."

"Well, maybe I was wrong about Krum, but Malfoy. He's a Slytherin after all. You're even wearing his house colours."

Hermione looked down on herself, truth be told, she hadn't realised this until just now, but she wouldn't let Ron win this argument.

"So what? I happen to like the colour green!"

"And silver as well, right? Oh come on, you sound pathetic, you don't think I'll seriously buy your shit about not knowing what colours you were wearing."

"Even if I'd picked these colours purposefully, it still seems that once again you were unable to what Dumbledore was saying earlier on. The main purpose of this ball was to encourage inter-house-relations!"

Ron looked like he was going to explode any minute. This is when Harry decided to interfere, trying to calm his best mate.

"Listen, Ron, I'm sure Hermione has a good reason for not telling us whom she was going with and for going with Malfoy in the first place."

"I bloody hell bet she doesn't. Why should she. She bloody…"

"For one", Hermione interrupted Ron's rambling, furious that he talked about her like she wasn't even in the room, "neither of you ever asked me who I was going with. For another, Draco asked me and I said yes, you know, that's the way those kinds of things usually work."

"Oh, it's Draco now, isn't it", Ron bit back. Obviously unable to come with any other insult just yet, he turned around, spilling half of the butterbeer in his glasses in the process and stormed off. Harry followed him, even though he sent a somewhat apologetic glance in Hermione's direction.

Great, just great. Of course, Harry sodding Potter once again had to side with Ron instead of her. Hermione was beyond furious now, though feeling humiliated at the same time. She was suddenly aware of all the people staring at her, leave it to Ron to make a huge scene. She left the hall hurriedly, wandering off into the corridors, not knowing where to go. And to make matters worse, she still desperately needed something to drink.

* * *

Draco had watched the whole scene unfold from afar. He was furious at the stupid Weasley, how dare he talk to her like that. But wait, since when did he care?

* * *

Hermione had settled herself in a corner, much in the manner as in the past year, only the location being different. However, this time Hermione did not let herself cry, convincing herself that Ron was not worth it. She was still fuming, about both Ron and Harry's behaviour.

Suddenly a glass of butterbeer was pushed in front of her, and she looked up to see that Draco had sat down next to her. She was slightly shocked, as she hadn't even heard him approaching.

She nodded her head in thanks, taking a rather large gulp from the glass. Both were silent for a few minutes, before Draco spoke up.

"Weasley is a prat, you know!"

"I know", Hermione said, smiling slightly. Had the situation been different, she knew she would have had Draco's head for insulting Ron, but right now, she found that she didn't care, appreciated it even.

Another few minutes of silence followed, until Draco spoke up once more.

"Do you want to go back now?"

"I was actually planning on heading straight to bed now", Hermione said.

"And what? Give Weasley the triumph of ruining your evening."

He had a point there, Ron had already ruined the ball for her once, she would not allow him to do so a second time.

"Let's go then", she said, and took Draco's hand, as he helped her to get up. A silence once again emerged between them, as they were walking back towards the Great Hall. However, this time it was not as awkward as it had been earlier on, but a rather comfortable silence.

* * *

Draco still couldn't explain to himself why he had decided to go after her. He tried to tell himself that it had been simply for the sake of his father's _fabulous_ plan, but knew that that wasn't the entire truth. When he had seen her leave, the hurt evident on his face, he had felt something which had resembled concern far too much for his liking.

* * *

The rest of the evening flew by in no time. As neither Hermione nor Draco really knew what to talk about, they were dancing most of the time and getting something to drink when they needed to relax. However, Hermione now accompanied Draco every time he was going to fetch drinks. Then they would settle down on a table, and one of them would try to come up with something to talk about, usually something school-related, like their Potions homework.

Hermione found that Draco was much more intelligent than she had given him credit for, as he more than once came up with ideas and opinions she had never considered before. When she was discussing with him about how to just perfectly perform this spell or produce that portion, she forgot about who she was actually talking to, and so did he. With each topic, their conversation would grow more animated, both heatedly defending their opinions. However, once they were finished with one discussion, an awkward silence would emerge soon afterwards and they usually just went to dance again.

Hermione did not really talk to anyone but Draco that evening. Only Luna of all people came up to their table once, talking to her. Hermione found that she was actually having fun talking to her, even though it was a slightly weird conversation.

When the last song had been played, and the professors started to usher the students out of the Great Hall, Hermione left together with Draco. Once they reached the stairs, he cleared his throat and she stopped.

"So, I actually had fun tonight", she said to him in a rather disbelieving voice.

He chuckled. "So did I."

"So, will you tell me why you asked me to come with you?", Hermione inquired curiously.

"No particular reason", said Draco. "And why did you agree to come with me?"

"No particular reason", replied Hermione much the same. Both knew that the other one wasn't telling the truth, but they both just left it there, for now.

For a moment Draco just looked at her, before he leaned in, placing a kiss on her cheek. "Good night", he said, before turning around and walking away.

* * *

Hermione was in a trance. Draco Malfoy had just kissed her on the cheek. Belatedly she realized that he had turned to leave, and she quietly called "good night to you, too" after him. He seemed to have heard her, as he turned around and smiled at her, before descending the stairs and disappearing out of sight.

Hermione was still in a slight daze, when she walked up to the Common Room, relieved that everyone else seemed to have gone to bed already. What exactly had happened tonight? Not only had she had her first decent conversation with Draco, but several of them, and she had actually enjoyed being with him. This was not good, not good at all. What had she gotten herself into?

But for now, Hermione found that she actually didn't care. She had had fun tonight, and that was all that mattered. She would deal with Ron and Harry in the morning, even though she was a bit afraid of that.

But when Hermione was lying in her bed, about to drift off to sleep, she found that it wasn't her two best friends she was thinking about, but rather a certain blonde Slytherin.

* * *

Draco was lying in his bed, tired and yet not able to sleep. He found himself reflecting on the events of the evening. He knew that his father would be happy to hear that his plan was working out perfectly so far, yet that wasn't what he was thinking about right now. He had had fun tonight, fun with the mudblood, something which he had never deemed as being probable or even just possible. He had laughed with her, and he had enjoyed talking to her, even dancing with her. She was different to his friends, that much was for certain, and he liked how she would defend her own opinion and not just budge the way Grabbe and Goyle usually did.

So when Draco fell asleep that night, it wasn't the prospect of his father being proud of him he was dreaming of, no, his dream seemed to be focusing on a certain bushy-haired witch and the way she had blushed when he had given her that kiss on the cheek.


End file.
